Boston-area to do list

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PICK OF THE DAY

Logan artport

There are two characters in John Logan’s “Red” but enough tumult, intensity, and emotion to fill a huge canvas. This bio-drama set on the Bowery in the late ’50s is about painter Mark Rothko and his young assistant who challenges his boss’s latest project and rejection of Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol. Feb. 20 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. (through March 10). $20 and up, $15 students, 10 percent senior discount. Nancy L. Donahue Theatre, 50 E. Merrimack St., Lowell. 978-654-4678. www.mrt.org

TUESDAY

He’ll always have Paris As a teen, David Pendery lived in Paris, where he fell in love with the City of Lights. The photographer has made Cambridge his home for 40 years, but at “Paris & Les Halles —The Sixties” photos are primarily from those Parisian teen years. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. (through Feb. 28). Free.French Cultural Center of Boston, 53 Marlborough St., Boston. 617-912-0400. www.frenchculturalcenter.org

Elephants and lemons In the shadow of Presidents’ Day, here’s a photojournalist whose career got a jump start in the late ’70s when her shot of candidateJimmy Carter ran in The New York Times Sunday magazine. “Mikki Ansin: The Road Show” focuses on the Cambridge-based photographer’s globetrotting with images including an elephant caravan in India and lemons in Île St. Louis, Paris. Mon-Fri from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. through March (March 1 free reception 6-7:30 p.m., RSVP required). Free. Boston Center for Adult Education, 122 Arlington St., Boston. 617-267-4430. www.bcae.org

An Americana journey As the youngest of six in a musical Cambridge family, it was just a matter of time before this singer and banjo player would make her own musical way. Calling her music “Americana soul,” Yani Batteau and The Styles
are Batteau, guitarist Steve Sidhly, and bassist Marty White. 8:30 p.m. $10. Johnny D’s, 17 Holland St., Davis Square, Somerville. 617-776-2004. www.johnnyds.com

WEDNESDAY

Drama in the ’hood Two powerful plays open next month and there’s a preview of both at “Two Plays:One House” presented by Huntington Theatre Company, SpeakEasy Stage Company, and the City of Boston’s Office of Arts, Tourism, and Special Events. Scenes from “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Clybourne Park” will be followed by a panel discussion about the plays’ themes of racism and gentrification. WCVB-TV’s Karen Holmes Ward hosts directors Liesl Tommy and M. BevinO’Gara. Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. Free (reservations recommended). Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road,Dorchester. 617-266-7900. www.huntingtontheatre.org/strandrsvp; www.speakeasystage.com/clybournepark

Haas dishes How would you feel if there were a metaphorical fly on your kitchen wall? Would your secrets get out — good and bad? Local food writer and psychologist Scott Haas
spent 18 months in Tony Maws’s Craigie on Main, and all is revealed in “Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant.” Haas dishes at the Coop. Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. Free. Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. 617-499-2000. www.harvardcoopbooks.bncollege.com

Wedded bliss How would you feel if there were a metaphorical fly on the walls of every room of your home? Real-life hubby and wife, actors and writersAnnabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn bring their home to you with a stage version of their marriage memoir “You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up.” Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. (through Feb. 24). $35, $39.50. CityStage, 1 Columbus Center, Springfield. 413-788-7033. www.citystage.symphonyhall.com